After many years of not playing due to family or professional commitments, I started playing paddleball again.
On the invitation of one of my bowling buddies, Red Baranello (yes, I bowl too, 209 average this year) who organizes weekly paddleball games on Saturday mornings at Weed Ave. off of Tysens Lane, I showed up with my old-school wood M1 Blue. I did O.K. but got served a little bit. The game has changed, the balls and paddles are not as heavy and the latter are made of graphite, and now titanium composite, making the game a lot faster and reaction time much shorter. This is a definite change from my days at the Budweiser tournaments, 96th Street at Central Park and People's Park in Williamsburg, where I was a fixture years ago.
In order to compete, I had to step into the 21st century and upgrade (reminds me of when I showed up to Bowling on the Green after not having bowled for almost 15 years with my Brunswick Teal Rhino and Columbia Black Knight) so I bought a Bat - Ti Pro Tournament Level Paddle made of graphite laced with titanium. After some practice I can now hold my own, even from the right position (weak side for me.) Red's great corner serves are now making the wall with some authority.
I'm having a lot of fun while staying fit, dust off your paddles and come down.
Never played.....and it is good to hear of improvement....I thought you might have lost a step!
ReplyDeleteIs this a sport you can ease into?
Or has the ship sailed(at least for me)?
Can I drive beer and smoke cigars while playing?
Or should I find another sport?
All joking aside, it sounds great..enjoy!
The Zen in me believes that one is never too old to learn any discipline. Practice and dedication can overcome all.
ReplyDeleteCool.
ReplyDeleteTo anticipate and see what is going to happen.
Deep.
If you consider its potential application with regard to motor learning and control, any sport or physical activity can be made easier. Check out Zen in the Art of Archery, which basically states that physical activity can become effortless both mentally and physically once the mind is taken out of the equation. Become one (through familiarity) with anything and it becomes second nature.
ReplyDeleteAs a witness to your paddleball skills and the ass whipping you gave to the person who shall remain anonymous, I am sure as with your bowling skills (which by the way you whipped that same person's ass) have only gotten better with time. I speak solely as a witness and not with any bias attached. Play on player, play on.
ReplyDeleteYes, anything can be a "zen exercise"...letting go of the inner dialogue, combined with allowing the body to function without interference...
ReplyDelete"The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconscious is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art"
While the author was way before my time, I do know folks who knew him.